Justice Sanjiv Khanna appointed as next Chief Justice of India

The Centre on Thursday cleared the appointment of Justice Sanjiv Khanna as the next Chief Justice of India (CJI).

"In exercise of the powers conferred by clause (2) of Article 124 of the Constitution of India, the President is pleased to appoint Shri Justice Sanjiv Khanna, Judge of the Supreme Court, to be the Chief Justice of India with effect from 11 November 2024," a notification issued by the Union Ministry of Law and Justice said.

Incumbent CJI D.Y. Chandrachud is due to retire on November 10 on attainment of the age of 65 years. He had recommended Justice Khanna as his successor earlier this month.

Justice Khanna will be the 51st CJI and will have around 6 month tenure in office.

He held the post of Chairman, Supreme Court Legal Service Committee. He is presently the Executive Chairman of the National Legal Services Authority and a member of the Governing Counsel of the National Judicial Academy, Bhopal.

Before elevation to the Supreme Court, Justice Khanna served as a judge in the Delhi High Court till January 2019. As a judge of the Delhi HC, he held the position of Chairman/Judge-in-charge, Delhi Judicial Academy, Delhi International Arbitration Centre, and the District Court Mediation Centres.

Justice Khanna, born in May 1960, obtained his law degree from the Campus Law Centre, Delhi University. He enrolled as an advocate in the Bar Council of Delhi in 1983 and primarily practised taxation, arbitration, commercial law, environmental law, medical negligence law, and company law in the Delhi High Court. He had a long tenure as the Senior Standing Counsel for the Income Tax Department. In 2004, he was appointed as the Standing Counsel (Civil) for the Delhi government. He had also appeared and argued in a number of criminal cases at the Delhi High Court as an Additional Public Prosecutor and as an amicus curie (friend of the court).